1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a route guidance method, a navigation apparatus, a portable terminal and an information server.
2. Description of the Related Art
In some cases, en route to a destination, a car is parked at a parking lot located close to the destination or a transportation station, and the remaining distance to the destination is traveled on foot or using a public transportation system. In such cases, a navigation system may provide route guidance for a route to the parking lot by indicating the route on a displayed map. For further guidance along the route from the parking lot to the destination, a portable terminal having a GPS capability and a route guidance capability may be used. However, use of such a portable terminal requires the user to perform complicated and troublesome operations to input information, associated with the destination, into the portable terminal when the user leaves the car.
With another device, when a destination is reached, a navigation apparatus is operated to store the destination as a registered point in a server as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-20304. After the destination has been registered, if the server detects that a user is leaving a car, the server transmits information to the user's portable terminal indicating a route from the user's car to the registered point (destination). When a destination is reached, it is necessary to operate the navigation apparatus mounted within the car to enter the destination as a registered point. Although this makes it unnecessary for a user to manually input destination information into the portable terminal, it is impossible to acquire route information via the portable terminal in a case in which the user leaves his/her car en route to the destination.